Detestable and wicked arts: New England and witchcraft in the early modern Atlantic world

Abstract

<p>Paul B. Moyer's book examines witchcraft cases in the British colonies of New England before 1670. These cases have been written about before, as Moyer notes, most famously by John Demos in <i>Entertaining Satan</i> (1982), Richard Weisman in <i>Witchcraft, Magic and Religion</i> (1984) and Carol Karlsen in <i>The Devil in the Shape of a Woman</i> (1987). But most scholars of witchcraft in early New England have dipped into these cases one way or another. Moyer's reasons for focusing on these cases are that "they deserve a fresh look … to provide an engaging exploration that brings together existing scholarship on the topic and offers some new interpretations" (xi). Moyer specifically wants to avoid the "jargon" of this earlier generation of scholars, producing a book that is more "plainspoken and accessible". And, while these earlier works remain central to the field, Moyer is quite right that this earlier generation's "romance with anthropology, sociology and psychology" (xii) has passed. Moyer's analysis is in line with recent early European witchcraft scholarship, specifically how witchcraft cases intersected with gender, class, religion, and the law. Moyer, also in keeping with current historiography, moves away from a strict division between elite and popular witchcraft cultures, and presents witchcraft prosecution as a corporate activity.</p>